National Pi Day: Pi one on!

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Grab your rolling pin and get ready to celebrate – it’s National Pi Day today!

Not to be confused with the other National Pie Day in January, here we celebrate the geekiness in all of us, as we cleverly combine pies with, well – the mathematical constant Pi, originally defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter and now with various equivalent definitions with many formulas in areas of maths and physics.

Sounds all very Big Bang Theory but, according to Livescience.com, it’s as easy as understanding “one, two, 3.1415926535…” and, by definition, is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.

Surprisingly, (or maybe not so surprising) it’s been celebrated by millions of math teachers and students since March 14, 1988, and has existed in one form or another since then.

According to holidayscalendar.com, the first official large-scale event was organized by physicist Larry Shaw at the San Francisco Exploratorium, and it featured participants marching around a large circle consuming fruit pies. Over the years, the day has evolved with more complex activities (I mean – how much pie can one eat?) even receiving some much-needed respect when the U.S. House of Representatives passed HRES 224 on March 12, 2009, recognizing March 14th officially as Pi Day.

And pies are, well – delicious, be they sweet, savoury, sliced (as in pizza pie), stuffed and more. They’re part of popular culture and interwoven in the fabric of national identity – and they do represent the quintessential comfort food.

To learn more about pi, we contacted TV and media personality Chef Michael G., aka as Michael Griffiths, a CTV MasterChef Canada alumni (he came in third last year) and “curator of experiential culinary events,” with his own catering company.

He is also – a nerd, who would fit perfectly into a Big Bang Theory episode. An academic scholar, mathematician and high school teacher, he was actually working on his PhD in computational science when he answered the call to audition for MasterChef Canada, because, as he explains, he loves to meld science with art: “What they say is so true – cooking is an art, baking is a science, and pie baking brings the two of these together,” says Griffith, adding, he may love the analytical world, but his passion has always been in the kitchen, and with older siblings, his mother – “also a mathematician!” – always made sure everyone was part of the menu making progress.

“From as young as I could remember, I was helping my mom in the kitchen – it was very hands-on, and everything was a teaching moment.”

For instance, when baking everything from pie crusts to breads, you stick with a formula: In Griffith’s kitchen, the formula for the perfect pie crust “is the ratio of three-two-one: Three cups of flour to two cups of fat, such as shortening, butter or lard, to one cup of ice water,” – with the understanding that you only use ice water sparingly for your dough to come together. “Anything can factor into a dough working or not working – from the humidity outdoors to the heat in your kitchen.” He adds a pinch of salt to dough crust and, if he’s making a sweet pie, a tablespoon of sugar.

He approaches bread making with the same strict principles – and even uses a sour dough starter handed down from his grandmother, who created it back in 1962. “I create everything with that special bread dough starter,” says Griffith, smiling. “It’s been part of the family cooking history for years, I keep it in the freezer and use it to make my bagels or breads….bread is such a show stopper.”

And making dough “is a science,” adds the 25-year-old foodie, whose favourite fillings are “raspberry, strawberry and blueberry.

“You apply the same mathematical logic to produce the end result: achieving that perfect pi!”

According to LiveScience, “pi is an irrational number, which means that it is a real number that cannot be expressed by a simple fraction. That’s because pi is what mathematicians call an ‘infinite decimall’ — after the decimal point, the digits go on forever and ever.” And, in case you’re interested, it’s also the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.

(courtesy Food Network Canada)

Putting on the Pies

The American Pie Council states apple continues to rule in the pie department, followed by pumpkin, pecan, banana cream and cherry. But, according to Food Network Canada, (Foodnetwork.ca) we all need to try these six classic Canadian pies:

Flapper Pie: A popular dessert in the Prairies, this rich custardy pie is made with graham crumb crust and topped with meringue.

Tourtierre Pie: This savoury French-Canadian dish boasts a medley of hearty flavours in one incredible dish.

Pecan Pie: Similar to its cousins, maple pie and sugar pie, this rich dessert is just as tempting but offers more crunch.

Basic Pie Crust

From the famous Wanda’s Pie in the Sky cookbook – this is my go-to, and perfect for my fave pie – lemon meringue! (Wandaspieinthesky.com.)

3/4 cup (175 mL) cold butter, cut into small cubes

2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. (1 mL) salt

1/3 cup (75 mL) ice water

Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or a pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest for 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of pastry cutter, just until dough begins to stick together and come away from sides of bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes. Allow dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board roll disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut a circle about 2 inches (10 cm) larger than pie plate and transfer pastry into plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto rolling pin. Turn pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over plate about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

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